Last week, following the list of 79 credit cards offering 0% APR, John made the following point:
Awesome list Flexo. However all of them are not devoid of Balance Transfer (BT) fees. That is something to watch for especially when the BT fees are not capped. Would be great if this list could be further divided based on 0% or capped BT fees vs. a 3% fee.
Savvy money manipulators like to use balance transfer offers to fund savings accounts earning interest, while paying the credit card balance off slowly for the duration of the 0% APR promotional period. I tried my hand at balance transfer arbitrage but it didn’t work out well for the combination of credit cards I used. Other people are much more successful, making thousands of dollars in bank interest every year on money borrowed at 0%.
This isn’t for the faint of heart. In order to succeed, it takes massive organizational skills. One late payment and you will lose your entire benefit. Not only that, but good balance transfer deals are getting more difficult to find. 0% APR deals still exist, but many come with fees in the small print. The interest you might earn may outweigh the fee, so if you are interesting in attempting arbitrage, here are some of the options that currently exist.
New! Chase TravelPlus Visa: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for the first 12 billing cycles following the opening of your account. After that, 17.49% variable. Fee: 3% of the amount of each transaction, but not less than $5.00 nor more than $99.00.
Discover Business Miles Card, Discover Business Card, Discover Open Road Card, and many other Discover cards: 0.0% until the last day of the billing period ending during January 2009;* then the standard APR for purchases. Fee: 3.0% for each balance transfer made under this offer, with a minimum of $5 and a maximum of $75.
JetBlue Business Credit Card from American Express: 3.99% during the first 6 months of Cardmembership. Then the standard Purchase APR will apply. Fee: There is no balance transfer transaction fee associated with this offer. However, future balance transfers may incur a fee as disclosed at the time of the applicable offer or transaction.
Startwood Preferred Guest Business Rewards Card from American Express: 2.90% APR during the first six months of Cardmembership on balance transfer requests submitted submitted during the first 90 days of Cardmembership. Then the standard APR for purchases will apply. Fee: There is no balance transfer transaction fee associated with this offer. However, future balance transfers may incur a fee as disclosed at the time of the applicable offer or transaction.
GM Business World MasterCard: 0% fixed APR for the first 12 billing cycles following the opening of your account. After that, 13.49% variable. Fee: 3% of the amount of each transaction, but not less than $5.00 nor more than $75.00.
Chase Platinum Business Card: 0% fixed APR for the first 12 billing cycles following the opening of your account. After that, 11.49% variable, 15.49% variable, or 22.49% variable, depending on our review of your application and credit history. Fee: 3% of the amount of each transaction, but not less than $5.00 nor more than $99.00.
Chase Business Rebate Visa Card, Chase Business Cash Rewards Card: 0% fixed APR for the first 12 billing cycles following the opening of your account. After that, 13.49% variable, 17.49% variable, or 22.49% variable, depending on our review of your application and credit history. Fee: 3% of the amount of each transaction, but not less than $5.00 nor more than $99.00.
Citi Professional Cash Card, Citi Professional Card: 0% APR on balance transfers for first 12 months. Fee: 3.00% of amount of each balance transfer, $5.00 minimum, $50 maximum, but waived with this offer.
Citi Professional Card with ThankYou Network: 0% APR on balance transfers for first 9 months. Fee: 3.00% of amount of each balance transfer, $5.00 minimum, $50 maximum, but waived with this offer.
As you can see, the offers are not nearly as abundant as they once were. If you know of any other good cards for balance transfers, feel free to leave suggestions here.
Any indented text is excerpted directly from the issuer’s marketing.
Here is an update to an article I posted about four months ago. If you’re looking for 0% APR offers, here are 79 of them.
Warning! Taking advantage of credit card companies may be fun and profitable, but it is dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing, or if you do know what you’re doing but are not careful. If you miss one payment, in most cases, you will owe back interest at the default rate.
That being said, here are a bunch of credit cards offering 0% APR on purchases, balance transfers, or cash advances for a year or six months. Use these cards responsibly, and you can save yourself money two ways. First, you can earn interest on your cash while paying off the card, and second, you can use inflation to your advantage. For example, if you pay $100 each month for thirteen months, your last payment is worth about 3% less in purchasing power. Here are 79 cards that offer 0% interest on purchases or more.
Note: Since posting this list on November 27, 2007, many issued have canceled these offers. The list below reflects what is currently available of the original 79 offers.
Discover Business Miles Card (apply here)
0% APR on purchases for 12 months
13.99% APR on purchases (standard)
You don’t have to have a business to apply and be accepted for this card, as with any business card. With this card, you also earn miles which can be redeemed for travel credits. The standard Discover Business Card offers a similar introductory rate, but rather than miles, earns the spender 5% cash back on office supplies, 2% on gas, and 1% on all other purchases.
Here are more 0% interest introductory offers on purchases, balance transfers and cash advances.
Discover More Card: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 6 months
Discover More Card – Sealife Collection: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 6 months
Miles by Discover Card: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 6 months
Discover More Card – American Flag: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 6 months
Discover More Card – Wildlife Collection: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 6 months
Discover More Card – Monogram: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 6 months
Discover Open Road Card: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 6 months
Discover More Card – Clear: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 6 months
Discover Motiva Card: 0% APR on purchases for 12 months
Advanta Platinum BusinessCard: 0% APR on purchases on balance transfers for 12 months
Advanta Platinum BusinessCard With Rewards: 0% APR on purchases on balance transfers for 15 months
Discover Open Road Card for Students: 0% APR on purchases for 6 months
Discover Student Card: 0% APR on purchases for 6 months
Discover Student Card – Tropical Beach: 0% APR on purchases for 6 months
Discover Student Card – Clear: 0% APR on purchases for 6 months
Discover Student Card – Monogram Collection: 0% APR on purchases for 6 months
Blue Sky from American Express: 0% APR on purchases for 6 months
Clear from American Express: 0% APR on purchases for 12 months
Blue from American Express: 0% APR on purchases for up to 15 months
Blue Cash from American Express: 0% APR on purchases for 6 months
Citi mtvU Platinum Select Visa Card for College Students: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 6 months, if you qualify, based on your application and credit history
Pulaski Bank Gold Visa Card: 0% APR on balance transfers for 6 months
Pulaski Bank Visa/MasterCard: 0% APR on balance transfers for 6 months
Capital One® No Hassle CashSM Rewards – Good Credit: 0% APR on purchases until October 2009
Capital One® No Hassle MilesSM Rewards – Good Credit: 0% APR on purchases until October 2009
Updated March 20, 2008.
If you manage your money well and can afford to do so, there’s nothing wrong with using 0% offers to make larger purchases. Taking this approach gives you two advantages: you can leave more of your money in savings earning interest and use inflation to your advantage. (Your $100 final payment has less purchasing power than the $100 of your first payment, so even if your absolute dollars stay constant during repayment, you are paying with less real value as time goes on.)
Of course, if you do not make a payment on time then you will owe previous interest accrued at the default rate. The issuers may even try to trick you into missing payments by delaying statements. You must be on the ball to make use of these deals.
Good 0% APR offers are getting harder to find thanks to the credit card companies tightening their belts, coinciding with the recent decreases in Fed rates. Here are some of the best offers available as of December 18, 2007.
Chase TravelPlus Visa (apply here)
0% on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months
17.49% variable APR (standard)
This card, in addition to the introductory APR offer, provides 2 miles for every $1 spent on travel-related purchases and 1 mile for every $1 on other categories. There is a $29 annual fee for the rewards program, however.
American Express Platinum Business FreedomPass Card
0% APR on purchases for 12 months
This card offers no annual fee and a standard APR of 11.74% on purchases. The current 0% offer makes this card worthwhile. You will receive 5,000 bonus points after your first purchase, which once accumulated can be traded in for savings on any flight, hotel, car rental or cruise, with no restrictions or blackout dates.
American Express Blue Cash for Business Card
0% APR on purchases for 6 months
The Blue Cash for Business Card is the one I recently opened to pay for my business expenses, but I opened the card before this 0% APR special offer was available. There is no annual fee and you can earn up to a 5% rebate. The full rebate is a little difficult to achieve thanks to minimum spending requirements and is limited to vendors within AmEx’s OPEN Savings partners.
American Express Platinum Business Card
0% APR on purchases for 12 months
This no-fee credit card allows you to earn 1 point for every dollar spent with no upper limit. Those points are redeemable for airfare as well as many other expenses, all through the American Express Membership Rewards program. The standard APR is 10.74%, but with an introductory rate of 0% APR for a year, you won’t be paying interest for a while.
American Express SimplyCash Business Card
0% APR on purchases for 12 months
The AmEx SimplyCash Business Card is similar to the Platinum Business Card. Both cards offer 0$ APR for 12 months but rather than points, the SimplyCash card offers 5% cash back on gas, office supplies, and wireless services, and 1% cash back on virtually all other purchases.
Advanta Platinum BusinessCard
0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months
This is a basic credit card that doesn’t offer much in the way of rewards. There is no annual fee, however, and you may be able to make good use of the 0% balance transfer offer. Watch out for the balance transfer fee of 3% with a maximum of $50. That maximum could make larger balance transfers worthwhile.
As always, if you choose to use credit, do so responsibly. Obviously with 0% offers, you don’t want to pay your entire balance off until the last possible moment, but you must play by the credit card company’s rules and don’t fall into any of the traps.
Warning! Taking advantage of credit card companies may be fun and profitable, but it is dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing, or if you do know what you’re doing but are not careful. If you miss one payment, in most cases, you will owe back interest at the default rate.
That being said, here are a bunch of credit cards offering 0% APR on purchases for a year or six months. Use these cards responsibly, and you can save yourself money two ways. First, you can earn interest on your cash while paying off the card, and second, you can use inflation to your advantage. For example, if you pay $100 each month for thirteen months, your last payment is worth about 3% less in purchasing power. Here are 50 cards that offer 0% interest on purchases or more.
Chase TravelPlus Visa (apply here)
0% on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months
17.49% variable APR (standard)
This card, in addition to the introductory APR offer, provides 2 miles for every $1 spent on travel-related purchases and 1 mile for every $1 on other categories. There is a $29 annual fee for the rewards program, however.
Discover Business Miles Card (apply here)
0% APR on purchases for 12 months
13.99% APR on purchases (standard)
You don’t have to have a business to apply and be accepted for this card, as with any business card. With this card, you also earn miles which can be redeemed for travel credits. The standard Discover Business Card offers a similar introductory rate, but rather than miles, earns the spender 5% cash back on office supplies, 2% on gas, and 1% on all other purchases.
American Express SimplyCash Business Card (apply here)
0% APR on purchases for 12 months
8.25% APR on purchases (standard)
In addition to the 0% offer and the competitive standard APR, this card offers 5% cash back on gas, office supplies, and wireless services, and 1% cash back on virtually all other purchases. Your cash back is credited to your statement monthly, one of the most convenient methods of receiving credit card rebates.
American Express Platinum Business FreedomPass Card (apply here)
0% APR on purchases for 12 months
12.24% APR on purchases (standard)
American Express offers points on the FreedomPass card, starting with a 5,000 point bonus just for making your first purchase. The points can be redeemed for travel.
Here are more 0% interest introductory offers for purchases. Some of these credit cards also offer 0% on balance transfers and cash advances.
Gold Delta SkyMiles Business Credit Card: 0% APR on purchases for 6 months
American Express Blue Cash Credit Card: 0% APR on purchases for 6 months
American Express Blue Cash for Business Card: 0% APR on purchases for 6 months
American Express Platinum Business Card: 0% APR on purchases for 12 months
American Express Gold Delta SkyMiles Business Card: 0% APR on purchases for 6 months
Chase Platinum Business Card: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 6 months
GM Business Card: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months (no longer available)
Chase Business Rebate Visa Card: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 6 months
Chase Business Cash Rewards Card: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 6 months
Amazon.com Business Visa: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 6 months (no longer available)
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